The official demo version of Pokémon Gold from Space World 1997 has leaked online, giving fans a look at early Pokémon designs, names of unused Pokémon and much more. The following comes from ResetEra member The Shadow Knight:
Well, hell reached a brisk 5 degrees this month and cats and dogs finally put aside their differences: the famous Gold and Silver demo actually surfaced online! And it had debug options! This game may have been based on Blue JP, the same game that became our Red and Blue. There’s a lot of sprite reusage but you’ll notice a few differences. Fun fact, the Pikachu, Chansey, and Mew sprites were used elsewhere first; the first two being in the Game Boy Camera and the latter being used in the Mew distribution ROM in Japan years ago.
It appears that Game Freak wanted most of Japan to be the region in Gen 2 originally. This map is huge compared to the real-life ground the final Johto covers. You might be thinking “Well if that was so big, why did they have problems putting Kanto in the game?”
The protagonist’s brother (named Ken) makes an appearance, ending the rumors that Gold’s brother was Red. You get an email from Professor Oak telling you to go to his lab, then your rival approaches you outside your house and asks you for what you call your mother (this was semi-unused in the final game, it’s used to prevent the Old Man glitch by storing names during Dude’s catching tutorial). You walk into the grass and Green stops you, bringing you to the lab like his grandfather did years prior.
To learn more about what the demo reveals, click here.
Source: ResetEra.com
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